Multiple contact, or gang, type relay



April 24, 1951 K. w. GRAYBILL ET AL 2,550,242

MULTIPLE CONTACT, OR GANG, TYPE RELAY Original File'd June 29, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l ze s 3 gm; it i u 25 4 o 38) o o 3away 0 0 L38 0 o 25 o o 23 o o E 23 H1 2 Y O O O 2 O o o 38 o 3 o P INVENTORS.

KENNETH W. GRAYBILL HANS SENGEBUSCH ATTORNEY April 24, 1 K. w. GRAYBILL ET AL MULTIPLE CONTACT, 0R GANG, TYPE RELAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS KENNETH W. GRAYBlLL HANS SENGEBU SCH Original Filed June 29, 1945 ATTO RNEY April 24, 1951 K. w. GRAYBILL ET AL 2,550,242

MULTIPLE CONTACT, 0R GANG, TYPE RELAY Original Filed June 29, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS. KENNETH W4 GRAYBILL HANS SENGEBUSCH ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 24, 1951 MULTIIPLETCONTACT, R GANG, TYPE RELAY Kenneth W. Graybill, Elmhurst, and Hans Sengebusch, Villa Park, Ill., assignors to Automatic Electric Laboratories, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Original application June 29, 1945, Serial No. 602,232. Divided and this application March 10, 1948, Serial No. 13,963

3 Claims. (Cl. 200-104) The present invention relates in eneral to switching apparatus of a kind suitable for use in establishing connections in a telephone system, and more particularly to a relay structure of the multiple contact, or gang, type.

This application is a division of the application Serial No. 602,232, filed June 29, 1945.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved relay of the gang type which is compact yet rugged and very reliable in operation.

A feature of the invention resides in the new and novel arrangement wherein the operation of the gang, or group, relay moves a plurality of contact springs into contact with a corresponding plurality of bare wire conductors and, at the same time, also operates an individual set of contact springs which are independent of the mentioned bare wire conductors.

Another feature of the invention relates to an improved and novel form of electrical contact for the relay.

A further feature of the invention concerns an improved form of armature associated with an electromagnet in a new and novel manner.

A still further feature of the invention relates to the novel manner in which the component parts of the relay are assembled together to form a compact and complete relay, which permits a plurality of the relays to be mounted adjacent each other in more closely spaced relationship than otherwise would be possible.

There are other objects and features of the invention having to do for the most part with the details in carrying out the foregoing. The various objects and features of the invention will be understood best upon a perusal of the following description of the accompanying three sheets of drawings which show a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Referring noW to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a general View of a framework holding vertical and horizontal bare wire conductors with which the group relay of the present invention co-operates. A detail description of the construction of this framework and the arrangement of the bare wire conductors is given in the previously mentioned application Serial No. 602,232.

Fig. 2 is another view of the framework showing how two or more frames are assembled side by side to form a complete switching apparatus. This View also shows how a plurality of the group relays are mounted on one frame.

Fig. 3 is an nlarged end view of one of the group relays shown in Fig. 2, part having been cut away for the sake of clarity.

Figs. 4 and 5 are front and rear views, respectively, of the group relay.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the bottom of the group relay.

Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a portion of the group relay.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective View showing details of the bank multiple and two relay contacts associated therewith.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of one relay contact spring and an associated vertical bare wire conductor.

Referring now to- Figs. 1 and 2, at each intersection of the horizontal conductors a group relay is provided for electrically connecting the horizontal conductors at that intersection to the respectively corresponding vertical conductors. In Fig. 2, six such relays are shown mounted upon the left-hand frame 26. The detailed construction of one of the relays is illustrated in Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive, and now will be described with reference thereto.

Each relay is supported upon frame 26 by a pair of non-magnetic end plates 40 which are secured to the frame by screws. These end plates are irregular in shape, as best seen in Fig. '7, and may be made, for example, of brass. Supported between them is an elongated horizontal bar 4!, its respective ends fastened to the two plates by screws. Square in cross section, this bar is made of soft iron or other suitable magnetic material; it forms the core of an electromagnetic coil 20 wound thereon between two insulators, each of the insulators being staked or otherwise rigidly affixed to the core and being provided with a forwardly extending lug about which one end of the coil is wound to facilitate soldering.

Parallel to the core of the electromagnet is an elongated shaft 42, its two ends supported by the end plates 40. This shaft carries a pivotal armature 43, the main portion of which is flat and approximately vertical. The upper end of the armature is bent over at an angle, and the central portion thereof is arched upwardly somewhat so that it will clear coil 20 in all positions of the armature. Riveted to the lower edge of the armature is a strip 44 of stiff insulating material which engages thirty hook shaped (or J-shaped) contact springs 45. These contact springs, disposed side by side along the length of the relay, are clamped between a channel member 46 and a 5 bar 41 but are insulated therefrom by intervening strips of insulating material 48; the contact assembly thus formed is bolted to a pair of lugs 49 on the respective end plates, whereby the lower end of each contact spring is positioned opposite a particular one of the vertical bare wire conductors; At the same time, due to a diagonal shank portion best seen in Fig. 5, the upper end of each contact spring is brought into engagement with a particular one of the horizontal bare wire conductors, permitting the two conveniently to be soldered together. In Fig. 8 there are shown two levels of horizontal bare wire conductors, two vertical bare wire conductors, a contact spring 45 soldered to the first horizontal conductor in the upper level of conductors, and a contact spring 45 soldered to the first horizontal conductor in the lower level of conductorsboth contact springs 45 being aligned with the first vertical conductor. For the purposes of illustration, it is assumed that the upper contact spring 45 in Fig. 8 is associated with the uppermost relay in Fig. 2, and the lower contact spring 45 in Fig. 8 with the second relay from the top in Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 3, the contact springs 45 are so tensioned that they urge the pivotal armature 43 to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. Its rotation in this direction is limited by a pair of stops provided on the end plates, whereby the armature normally occupies the position in which it is shown in Fig. 3. When coil 28 is energized, however, attractive magnetic forces are set up between the core 4i and the armature 43, causing the latter to rotate in a clockwise direction until its upper outer ends engage the corresponding ends of the core. This flexes the thirty contact springs 5 so that each engages the vertical conductor opposite which it is positioned, thus completing an electrical circuit between that vertical conductor and the horizontal conductor to which said contact spring is soldered.

When the bottom edge of armature 43 moves to the left upon energization of the electromagnet (see Figs. 5 and 6) a lug 52 thereon engages one end of arm 53 and rotates it a slight amount. This arm is pivotally mounted on a bracket 54, which is fastened to one end plate by screws; it extends through a slot 55 in the armature and contains a U-shaped bend, the bottom portion of which (56) normally rests against bracket 54 due to the tension of springs in the contact set 51. Rotation of arm 53 operates the contact set, it being appreciated that this set may contain other contact springs in addition to, or instead of, the ones shown. The configuration of the individual contact springs preferably is like that disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,272,496, issued February 10, 1942, to F. E. Wood. (In order to avoid confusing the drawings, bracket 54 has not been shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and arm 53 has been shown only in part. The arrangement will be fully understood, however, from the remaining figures.)

Returning now to the contact springs 45 which are employed to make electrical connections with the vertical bare Wire conductors, each contact spring has two sections of unequal length. The longer section is supported at one end in the manner previously described, and the shorter section is doubled back from the free end of the longer section in such a way as to give the spring a modified V-shape. The general shape of contact spring 35 with relationship to the mounting of the spring and the vertical bare wire conductor associated with the spring can best be seen in Fig. 3.

y the wire, so that when member 44 reaches its maximum displacement the spring 45 is flexed in the manner shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 9. As the free end of contact spring 45 slides along the vertical bare wire conductor, it produces a wiping action which tends to remove from the wire any film which may be present thereon in the path of such movement.

Having fully described the invention, what we believe to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a relay, a stationary support having mounted thereon a contact spring which extends away from said support and terminates in a free end, said spring being bent at a point between said support and said free end in such a way as to form two normally straight spring sections disposed at an acute angle to one another, a straight stiff wire supported adjacent said spring in such a position that the longitudinal axes of said two straight spring sections and the longitudinal axis of said wire all lie in the same plane, the free end of said spring being nearer said wire than is the bend in said spring, an electromagnet so mounted that its longitudinal axis is transverse to said wire, and an armature under the control of said electromagnet operated to apply a force to said spring at a point adjacent the bend therein, thereby to cause the free end of said spring to engage said wire and slide a certain distance along the length of said wire.

2. In a switching device, a support having mounted thereon a row of parallel contact springs each of which extends away from said support and terminates in a free end, each said spring being bent at a point between said support and said free end in such a way as to form two normally straight spring sections disposed at an acute angle to one another, a base carrying a row of conductors corresponding respectively to said contact springs, means for detachably securing said support to said base so that the free end of each said contact spring is positioned adjacent to its respectively corresponding one of said conductors, and means common to said springs operated to apply, at a point adjacent the bend in each spring, a force urging all of said springs concurrently into engagement with their respectively corresponding ones of said conductors.

3. In a relay, a row of parallel conductors located in a particular plane, a second row of parallel conductors located in a plane intersecting said particular plane, a support having mounted thereon a row of contact springs corresponding to said second row of conductors, one end of each said spring permanently connected to the corresponding conductor of said second row of conductors, the free end of each said spring extending away from said support and associated with one of the conductors of said first row of conductors, each said spring being bent at a point between said support and its free end in such a way as to form two normally straight spring sections disposed at an acute angle to one another, the bend in each said spring being further away from the conductor in said first row of conductors associated with that particular spring than is the free end of that particuiar spring, an electromagnet, an armature associated with said electromagnet, and means operated by said armature under the control of said electromagnet for applying a force to said springs at points adjacent the bends therein to cause the free ends of said springs to engage the corresponding conductors of said first row of conductors and slide a certain distance along the lengths of said last conductors, thereby to connect said second row of conductors with said first row of conductors.

KENNETH W. GRAYBILL. HANS SENGE'BUSCH.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,521,591 Beck Jan. 6, 1925 1,543,825 Dobbin June 30, 1925 1,647,792 Gent Nov. 1, 1927 1,994,671 Slavvik Mar. 19, 1935 2,137,503 Obergfell Nov. 22, 1938 2,137,514 Voss Nov. 22, 1938 2,301,772 Boswau Nov. 10, 1942 2,322,219 Boswau June 22, 1943 2,396,077 Blackhall Mar. 5, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 543,190 Great Britain Feb. 13, 1942 572,086 Germany Mar. 10, 1933 792,950 France Nov. 7, 1935 

